10/31/10

Please let me start my telling you, I am not nearly as eloquent as my husband. I will just tell it like it is, so here goes....

So, I had a very unexpected start to my morning. The nurse came in with a very large shot and said we were starting the steroids today. She told me it was going to hurt and burn. Not good news! I figured when you want something bad enough, you will do whatever it takes to get there. So, I bared it and shared it. To be completely truthful, it really wasn't as bad as I expected. However, when I asked how often we had to do these shots and she said twice - I thought she meant twice daily. Not exactly what I signed up for but she really meant twice. Today and tomorrow and then no more. I thought "I can handle that." Tomorrow will be another shot and ultrasound to check my cervix again and to peek at the babies again. Nothing exciting to report for today - which is what we want!

Had a great visit with my parents today. They brought me non-hospital food - which is always a blessing. Mom brought me a few more things from home to help make me comfortable. I have pretty much moved into my room and made it mine. I figure this is my home for awhile - I might as well enjoy it! My Aunt Patti also stopped by to visit and I had a nice phone all from Cherish. All visits are and calls are greatly appreciated.

Jace said several have asked for an address here at the hospital. I have posted it on Facebook but I figure I might as well put it here too...Jennifer Hills, Room 1146Carle Foundation Hospital611 W Park St.Urbana, IL 61801

I will try to post as often as I can. Especially if there is anything new to report. Please keep praying that these babies keep "baking" for as long as they can!

10/30/10

Had a great visit from my mom and pop today. Besides gracing us with their presence they brought food from the "outside" which was a nice change for Jen. Baked potato soup and a half a club sammy from Cheddars really brightened her day. The visited all day and it was great.

As for the medical side of things today, again, absolutely nothing changed...which is great news once again! Weird how no changes are what we are rooting for. Still no roids for the babies yet but we think those meds start tomorrow. The bigger they can get now the better of they will be later.

A funny sidenote on that. My mom helped me come to the realization that a career in major league sports will be spoiled on our children. Because they are going to be steriod users they will face bans in all major league sports. Well I guess they could be pro wrestlers but thats about it.

Another funny story from this week - the case of the missing cell-phone. Jen had been texting on her phone all day. Later in the evening she was needing to place a call. We couldnt find her cell phone. Looked in her bed, around her bed, her table. We looked on the shelf, on the floor, in the bathroom. Couldn't find it. Decided to call it with my cell phone. Nothing. Couldn't here it ring, couldn't feel or here it vibrate. Poof it was just gone. Gone until Jen got completely up from the bed. Apparently our daughter had taken the phone to begin her phone talking career a bit early. (lets face it we all know its coming some day). So Jens belly had been hiding her phone the whole time muffling the sound and deadining the vibration. Just a little laughter to get us through a rather boring day.

Thanks again for all the encouragement, gifts, and well wishes. Its been 5 days and so far so good.

10/29/10

Jen is doing great! It's a hard situation to understand fully but like the title says, she is making progress without moving. The bed rest is doing exactly what it was designed to do - slow everything down.

The good news started yesterday when she was removed from 24 hr monitoring to 6 hr monitoring which meant less interuptions during the night and better sleep for everyone. Today the blessings kept flowing as Jen was told they would stop ckecking her blood suger after every meal because she had been keeping it right on track each week. Last but not least she can now order off the cafeteria menu instead of choosing from the same menu options. All blessings!

God is already starting to remind us just how much He loves us by blessing us with family and friends tending to our needs. Yesterday we enjoyed the company of Donna and Jerry Woods and Brand and Linda Mulvey. Sitting around with dear friends always makes for a better day. Jens cousin Heather and Aunt Patti, both live in the area, have been very helpful and see that many needs are met. We are really looking forward to this weekends visitors, our parents as they, like always, have been great and are our number one encouragers.

As for daily life, we have been blessed with a great team of doctors, nurses, food deliverers, and house cleaners. Carle is a wonderful place and the entire staff is wonderful. Today they had a childrens costume parade and it was a good distraction from the normal...but these days what is normal anyway.

Plan going forward - The baby roids start this weekend. They will grow the babies at a quicker rate. Other than that its just more of the same sitting and waiting, praying and thanking. God is good and has a plan. We are just happy to be part of it. Thank you everyone who is and has and will be praying for us. We are truly blessed to have you all as friends.

10/28/10

Hello friends. With the recent events we decided a blog to tell the story, post updates, and provide general information was in order. While facebook and texting will still be the means of instant updates, this blog will be a place of anecdotes and full stories. Besides a mode of updates this blog will provide Jen with an activity to look forward to each day. So here it goes, sit back and enjoy our ride as we experience it.

Tuesday, Oct 26th Jen was going to Champaign for a scheduled doctor’s appt with her Maternal Fetal Specialist. This was a routine appt so Cinda was going to go with her to see the twins on the ultrasound and I was heading to work as normal. As I left for work at 6am something in my heart said turn around, you don’t want to miss seeing your babies on the ultrasound. I chalked it up to the storm and used that as reasoning to turn around and go home and go with Jen and Cinda to the appt. I know now it was God telling me I needed to be there at that appt.

The appointment started just like the rest, vitals, questions, and the ultrasound. With twins this process generally takes an hour to get all their measurements and such. Everything was looking great. Two beautiful, growing babies. Strong heartbeats and stronger smiles could be seen.The doc came in a little bit later and confirmed what we already knew. Everything with the babies was going as planned and Jen was healthy as well. Our Son weighed in at 1lb 7oz and our daughter 1lb 5 oz. Then came the news nobody was expecting. “I am going to have to admit you”. Scared, stunned, and staring we continued to listen to her. Basically the weight of the two babies was making Jen’s cervix shrink. While that is what is supposed to happen, at 23 weeks 4 days this is a cause for concern. Whats next?

Well, we are now residents of Carle, floor 11. Our room number # is 1146 and this is where Jen will stay until our babies are born. While the goal is to keep the babies in their current positions as long as possible, the first milestone goal is 5 weeks, to get them to 28 weeks gestation. At 28 weeks development is complete and only getting bigger and strong remains. That is why the 28 wk mark is so important. As for Jen she is on bed rest with bathroom privileges, which mean she can only get up to go the bathroom. She will be given progesterone to slow down the labor symptoms and baby roids to get those two little wonders stronger and healthier.

Many of you know the long road it’s been to get to this point so unusual circumstances now really do not come as a surprise. First, we trust God to provide and get us through this hiccup. We have already been blessed with tremendous support from family and friends and we cannot say enough how grateful we are to have all of you in our lives.

Plan as of now, like I said Jen is officially off work and on bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy. I will be staying with her the rest of the week and weekend. Sunday I will come home and try to get back to work as normal, working during the day and staying at home in Newton during the week. As soon as the whistle blows Friday I will be scooting back up and staying all weekend again with Jen. That is the plan for now but we know so well that plans change.Many of you have already said you were coming for a visit and that is great. I just want to give you some information. Visiting hours on this floor are from 9am to 9pm. Follow the signs to the Tower Elevators and head to the 11th floor. You will come to a door you cannot get through. This floor is password protected and we have to let you in. Text Jen or I or call her room. You can also call the desk and they will let you in.

As I said before, this blog will be a place for information filled updates and full stories. We want to thank all of you for being here for us and want to thank God for blessing us with these babies, this great hospital and staff, and all of you!-Jace